Until Next Time
by thinking-about-it
Summary: He looked up knowing his time was up too "Don't….. If you bring her back this time….. It's the last time." He nodded bleakly thinking of the 'if' in that sentence. Naruto knew he couldn't stop his wife from taking missions, but he just wanted her back with the sparkle in her eyes intact. Ino knew if she went back home this time, it really was the last time.


Naruto leaned over to the other side of the bed, trying to shut off the annoying alarm. He pulled back once the noise had been shut off and sighed. Looking out the small window over his head, he saw that dawn was just breaking. He got up slowly, wincing at each stab of pain from his various wounds; He glanced down at his torso and saw fresh bandages covering him like a patchwork quilt.

"Go back to bed Love….. Sorry I woke you up, forgot to turn the damn thing off" he heard from the doorway and spotted his beautiful wife stepping out of the bathroom, a thin robe wrapped around her tall figure. She was drying her hair with another towel. He smiled at her and held out an arm towards her.

She looked at him and smiled back, before dropping the towel in her hands and walked towards him. The glow from the pre-dawn sky and the partially concealed bathroom light illuminated her figure beautifully. She reached out and lightly grasped his hand, and came willingly when he tugged at her wrist softly. She put her free arm around his neck and sat in between his legs, lacing her fingers though his, before giving the hand she was holding, a firm squeeze.

"You smell so good" he said sniffing her neck "I love your natural smell…. You have _no_ idea how much I want to just ravish you right now" he said wrapping his right arm around her waist possessively.

She snorted at that "Tell me Naru, when you ever _don't_ want to ravish me?" but then smiled at him conveying how much she would enjoy that. She pulled away when he bent down to capture her lips in a kiss and tutted teasingly "Uh-uh, my Love. I have an appointment with the Hokage, which I can't afford to be late for. New mission!" she said before giving a peck on his chapped lips and pushed him back on the bed before moving towards the cupboard to get dressed.

He watched her each movement with keen eyes from his place on the small bed. He suppressed a sigh and smiled when she sent a knowing look his way. He hated it when she took on these solitary missions; She always came back drained of energy, bruises like his and the sparkle in her eye missing.

No doubt, she was the best for these missions, for if not the Hokage wouldn't call on her skills so frequently. He knew it was this type of mission because the only times she ever met the Hokage for them was at this time. He wished he could stop her, but then she would stop him too. He watched her pull on her Hitai-ate and before he could stop himself made a disparaging noise and turned away from her.

He felt her crawl over to him, and let her turn him around. She cupped his cheek and bent down to give him his Good-bye kiss. He opened his eyes and saw her, an inch away from his lips, and pulled her closer to him suddenly. She pulled away a few seconds later and looked down at his panting body.

"I love you Naruto." She whispered to him and traced one of the healed scars on his developed chest. He sighed and covered his eyes with his arm and whispered "I love you Ino. Come back to me"

She took her cue and got off the bed and left out the window. He didn't remove his arm away until he was sure she wasn't close before he let the tears fall.

* * *

Naruto walked out of their apartment a couple of weeks later, silently cursing the morning for what it symbolized, and ushered his hung-over body towards the Hokage's office. It was their ritual; and until the other one showed up, every morning and evening they paid a visit to the office to find out. He strode in, barely acknowledging the morning greetings from his colleagues, at least the few of them who had made it to the office this early. He couldn't pin-point it, but he had a sinking feeling in his stomach that didn't have anything to do with his missed meals. He stopped in front of the desk the Hokage was seated at, waiting for him to finish his work. Naruto let himself remember the past when the man in front of him used to read erotic novels and beat him upside the head for something foolish that he had done. Nothing much had changed about Kakashi, except for his title and duties.

"Morning Naruto. Have you been going to Tsunade like I've asked you to?" Kakashi Hatake asked curtly, while scanning the young man in front of him with a keen eye. He could tell Naruto hadn't so much as looked at the hospital since Ino had left. Sometimes Kakashi truly regretted sending the young woman out for these missions; but he had no other choice… there really wasn't anyone better at them than Ino was. This was a Ninja's life, and he kept telling himself that, telling Naruto that unless she requested not to go on those missions anymore he had no choice but to continue using her skills.

"It's been almost two weeks! Even Gamakichi can't feel her anymore. Where have you sent her?" Naruto asked a faint pleading tone in his voice. He looked at Kakashi, trying to communicate to the man how much he needed to know… even if it was a little information, useless information even, he still wanted to know. "Kakashi… please… It isn't like her. She always leaves a trace for Gamakichi to follow if needed. He hasn't found it in over three days!"

Kakashi looked away from the pained young man in front of him and started rummaging in his drawer, to buy some time to think of what to say to him. Finally he pulled away a couple of minutes later and looked at his former student with a soft smile in his visible eye. "I can't let you know that Naruto. You know how it is. Just have a little confidence in her. She never fails to return, right?" he saw Naruto nod his head in resignation and continued "If Ino hasn't left a trace then that must mean someone must have found the code to her trace… maybe that's why she's stopped leaving one. All I can tell you right now is you probably won't see her for a couple more days… maybe even a couple of weeks."

"Just let me know when you get any notification from her. And if there is any mission close by her, I would like to take it up" Naruto said his voice drawn and defeated, before he turned around and left.

Kakashi watched him take to one of the roofs towards the waterfalls Hayate had made for his training. He opened the scroll he was holding and sighed sadly. He didn't have any idea how to inform Naruto that Ino had been caught and was prisoner. He knew her capture and everything else that had preceded it was part of the elaborate scheme that Shikamaru had come up with to ensure the mission success.

The temporary truce that had been established when the 3rd Ninja War broke out had smashed to smithereens almost the second that Madara fell. Each country had pulled back into their own territories, and talks, those lengthy talks, had done nothing to ensure that the peace would really last. It had finally ended in an anti-climax, each Daimyo swearing to never look the other in the face. It was really childish, and he couldn't understand how those pompous asses managed to destroy what the Five Kage's had so painstakingly built up, on mere formality.

The world was now in a tremulous state, with each Kage trying to establish peace through perfectly reasonable treaties and each Daimyo in turn refusing to accept even the smallest inconvenience. Sometimes he wished that those people would just live the life of the lowest ranking Ninja even if for a day… they wouldn't be so sensitive and spoilt and prideful.

Sighing softly, he pulled a bundle of papers towards him and whistled a three note tune into his mouth piece. He continued looking over the papers, signing a couple of reconstructions, repairs and rejecting a lot of useless complaints by throwing it into the nearby trash. He sat back when he heard a small cough in front of him.

"Sakura….. Time's up." He said, almost whispered, making sure to keep his eye trained on a spot over the woman's shoulder.

"Kakashi…" she whispered back and took a hesitant step towards him. Kakashi still refused to take his eyes off her shoulder, ignoring the hand that was half raised as if to touch him; instead he shut his eye and turned his head away from her. "Still?" he continued ignoring the pain he heard in her voice, pushing a file towards her.

"Tomorrow the negotiation is going to start. You need to stay back. Tsunade will accompany me instead." He said louder, his eye focused back on her shoulder. He heard her sharp intake of breath when she realized how serious things had gone wrong. "Naruto should never know. Send him far away from there." He continued, ignoring her piercing gaze on him.

"Look at me, Kakashi…. Kakashi!" He looked up knowing his time was up too "Don't….. If you bring her back this time….. It's the last time." He nodded bleakly thinking of the 'if' in that sentence. He felt her slim fingers on his face, and focused his eye back on her. His mask was slowly peeled off his face, and his Hi Tai-ate pushed back. He looked at Sakura as she bent forward and softly kissed him. It was only a few moments and then she was gone; and he was left pulling his mask back in place.


End file.
